Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially female entrepreneurs, face steep challenges in accessing finance and credit. This situation is now even more dire with the Covid-19 crisis. SMEs finance their activities in three main ways: (i) shareholder...

The Government of Jordan has strengthened its commitment in recent years to gender equality and women's social and economic empowerment through Jordan's Renaissance Plan 2019-2020 and more recently through the preparation of the Women's Economic Empowerment Action Plan under the Mashreq Gender...

Efforts in Afghanistan have sought to enable systematized data disclosures and simplify data collection efforts, given security concerns that often restrict movement and coordination. In this context, the following governance enhancements are being supported: the new draft mining regulations...

Fiscal transparency is a vital requirement for effective fiscal policymaking. Budgets, including their underlying fiscal forecasts, must provide a clear statement of the government’s budgetary objectives and policy intentions. Credible budgets also require comprehensive, timely, and reliable...

The PIM Assessment resulted in the establishment of an Action Plan to strengthen the system. Given weak institutional capacity and limited resources, the Plan should include quick-win options where possible, particularly in the early recovery phase. Evidence shows that the process by which...

A government's provision of complementary public goods, such as roads and bridges, facilitates the development of markets leading to long-term economic growth. Private enterprise, by itself, is unlikely to provide such public works. Likewise, a government's investment in social infrastructure,...

The MNA region has rich marine ecosystems that can play a key role in eroding extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity through the Blue Economy—the sustainable use of marine resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, jobs, and overall ecosystem health. The Blue Economy...

MENA economies have been experiencing moderate to high growth in GDP with stagnant growth in employment, a phenomenon of "jobless growth" since the 1970s. This dire situation in MENA is a result of the existing social contract, in which the state is the main provider of public sector jobs and...

This brief discusses about the refugees welfare in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Refugee flows can significantly alter the social and economic fabric of host communities, with the impact depending on initial conditions in labor markets, access to resources, demographics, labor laws, and...

There is a strong link between efficient and effective public procurement and good governance. Public procurement is at the core of translating public policy into tangible results for citizens, delivering essential services, implementing projects and programs, and improving a country's business,...